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Homegoing

Yaa Gyasi

Start date: February 5, 2023

Finish date: March 1, 2023

Discussion: Country and Territories

Why we're reading this: Countries/Territories = Ghana

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
[close] Countries/Territories = Ghana

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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Country and Territories

A Dangerous Place (March 2023)
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last updated Mar 04, 2023 01:57PM

Homegoing (February 2023)
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last updated Feb 06, 2023 01:39PM

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What Members Thought

Aug 26, 2020 Radwa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: e-books, adult, around-the-world, historical-fiction, contemporary, 2020-favorites

English Review Below.
Around the World Project: Ghana.

يا للهول. أنا مش مصدقة أن دي رواية الكاتبة الأولى. ملحمة عائلية أفريقية من المستوى الممتاز. بتختصر تاريخ العنصرية والعبودية والفصل العنصري في أمريكا، وتاريخ السود ما بين أفريقيا إلى أمريكا في 300 صفحة، بشكل كانت تعجز عنه كتب تاريخية. أنا انبهرت فعلا بالإنجاز اللي يا جسي قدرت تحققه بالرواية دي.

في الرواية دي اللي بتبدأ بقصة أختين من غانا (لا تعلم إحداهما بوجود الأخرى)، بنشوف ازاي كل أخت ونسلها بيسلكوا اتجاه مختلف، لما أخت بتتزوج تاجر عبيد بريطا English Review Below.
Around the World Project: Ghana.

يا للهول. أنا مش مصدقة أن دي رواية الكاتبة الأولى. ملحمة عائلية أفريقية من المستوى الممتاز. بتختصر تاريخ العنصرية والعبودية والفصل العنصري في أمريكا، وتاريخ السود ما بين أفريقيا إلى أمريكا في 300 صفحة، بشكل كانت تعجز عنه كتب تاريخية. أنا انبهرت فعلا بالإنجاز اللي يا جسي قدرت تحققه بالرواية دي.

في الرواية دي اللي بتبدأ بقصة أختين من غانا (لا تعلم إحداهما بوجود الأخرى)، بنشوف ازاي كل أخت ونسلها بيسلكوا اتجاه مختلف، لما أخت بتتزوج تاجر عبيد بريطاني والأخرى بيتم بيعها كإحدى العبيد. وكل فصل هو بمثابة قصة لها بداية ووسط ونهاية لنسل الأختين بالتوالي، وبنشوف مع تقدم الأعوام، وضع السود في غانا وأمريكا، وبنشهد الحركات السياسية وتعامل البيض مع السود والعكس. الرواية فيها عاطفة جياشة، فيها علاقات حب وخيانة وعلاقات عائلية مؤثرة، فيها قسوة وعنصرية البيض والظلم اللي تعرض له السود، والرواية نهايتها أبهرتني، واللي من غير ما أحرق أحداثها حسيت أنها قفلت بنهاية تليق بالبداية. حسيت بالظلم اللي بيتفاقم في كل فصل، وعرفت كتير عن أفريقيا بشكل مكنتش أعرفه، زي التاريخ المؤسف للقبائل الأفريقية اللي في البداية ساعدت البريطانيين في بدء تجارة العبيد، تحول تجارة العبيد من كونها قانوية لغير قانونية، وازاي ده برضة مغيرش من طريقة تعامل البيض مع السود.

رواية ضرورية لمعرفة المزيد عن غانا وتاريخ العنصرية والعبودية في أمريكا بالذات ولمعرفة مدى أهمية مظاهرات السود في أمريكا وأنحاء العالم.

I honestly can't believe that this Yaa Gysi's first novel. It's an excellent African family saga, putting in 300 words the history of racism and slavery in the US, and the history of Black people between Africa and the USA, in a way that history books couldn't have done it.

In this novel we start by following two sister (where one of them doesn't know about the other), and how their futures and the futures of their generations change when one of them marries a British slave trader and the other gets sold into slavery. Each chapter is like a standalone story of the sisters' grandchildren, and as the years go by, we know more about the black lives in Ghana and USA. We see political movements and how whites perceive blacks and vice versa.

This novel is very emotional, we see love and betrayal and family, there's the brutality and racism of whites and the injustices that the blacks had to suffer. and I was blown away by that ending, which suffice to say, felt like the novel ended in a full circle. I felt the racial injustices grow with each story and each chapter, and I knew a lot about Africa's history that I didn't know before. How the tribes at first helped the slaves trade, how when the slave trade turned from legal to illegal that didn't change a thing, and it clarified a lot of the racism in the USA. I knew more about "passing as white" and how it's perceived by both blacks and whites, and how that changed over the years, also how the perception mixed-race children changed over the years.

A must read if you want to know more about Ghana, the racism and slavery history, and how the fight for black lives never really ended. ...more

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Jun 08, 2025 Krissy rated it it was amazing

Each chapter gave a glimpse of a life could have been its own novel. We see a family through the generations and I was frequently left wanting more of them. Engaging novel that invoked tears. I did my best to not put this down today. I didn't read the synopsis before I picked this up. That created more intrigue. I found the family tree helpful. Pleasantly surprised to see it fitting into my theme with reading more about the prison system. I will seek out her other work & likely more reading on t ...more

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Dec 11, 2018 Cam rated it it was amazing

This book takes you through time from one generation to the next. From being captured and taken to America to being brought back to their roots.

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Jan 11, 2017 Judy Lindow rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-non-fiction

Homegoing is hard to put down. I knew before the end that I wanted my own copy and to read it again. It's a story of many generations, families and their interconnections. Each character has a unique voice and story and how the past and future made up part of who they were. Homegoing is in part a very convincing telling of family history as it drives the fates and destiny of future generations. What it means to be at home, leave, or come home is very analogous all the way through the book. The m ...more

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Dec 30, 2016 Randy A. rated it really liked it

Like many, I really enjoyed this book and got a lot out of it. I appreciated a unique historical fiction framework to think about race and slavery. It covered decades masterfully through generations without painstakingly covering the passage of each year. I echo Roxane Gay's review point that the novel (amazing because it's a novel) makes a case for reparations. It wasn't perfect, to me, but it wouldn't stop me from recommending it to others. I'm returning my DC library copy ASAP so someone else ...more

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